Good Morning, Lord!
I Am Baptized
And Peter said to them,
"Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for
the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
(Acts 2:38 ESV)
Make the sign of the cross as
you say, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.”
A Morning Prayer
O LORD, in the morning you hear
my voice; in the morning I turn my thoughts to You to remember Your love and
faithfulness as I begin a new day. Thank you for keeping us safely through the
night. Please let me recognize today as a blessing from You, and the events of
the day as divine appointments to exercise my faith in You. Please give me
peace and joy and help me to live in such a way that my attitude and actions
reflect that I am your child; adopted into Your family through Jesus, in whose
name I pray. Amen.
I Believe …
I believe that God has made me
and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all
my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also
gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children,
land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I
need to support this body and life. He defends me against all danger and guards
and protects me from all evil. All this He does only out of fatherly, divine
goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is
my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him. This is most certainly true.
Lead
Me in Your Righteousness
To
the choirmaster: for the flutes. A Psalm of David.
5 Give ear to my words,
O Lord;
consider my groaning.
2 Give attention to the sound of my cry,
my King and my God,
for to you do I pray.
3 O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice;
in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you[a] and watch.
consider my groaning.
2 Give attention to the sound of my cry,
my King and my God,
for to you do I pray.
3 O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice;
in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you[a] and watch.
4 For you are not a God who
delights in wickedness;
evil may not dwell with you.
5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;
you hate all evildoers.
6 You destroy those who speak lies;
the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
evil may not dwell with you.
5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;
you hate all evildoers.
6 You destroy those who speak lies;
the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
7 But I, through the abundance of
your steadfast love,
will enter your house.
I will bow down toward your holy temple
in the fear of you.
8 Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness
because of my enemies;
make your way straight before me.
will enter your house.
I will bow down toward your holy temple
in the fear of you.
8 Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness
because of my enemies;
make your way straight before me.
9 For there is no truth in their
mouth;
their inmost self is destruction;
their throat is an open grave;
they flatter with their tongue.
10 Make them bear their guilt, O God;
let them fall by their own counsels;
because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out,
for they have rebelled against you.
their inmost self is destruction;
their throat is an open grave;
they flatter with their tongue.
10 Make them bear their guilt, O God;
let them fall by their own counsels;
because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out,
for they have rebelled against you.
11 But let all who take refuge
in you rejoice;
let them ever sing for joy,
and spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may exult in you.
12 For you bless the righteous, O Lord;
you cover him with favor as with a shield.[1]
let them ever sing for joy,
and spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may exult in you.
12 For you bless the righteous, O Lord;
you cover him with favor as with a shield.[1]
Are
you a morning person? If so, v. 3 might be a word of vindication for you as it
says, “In the morning you hear my voice.” Could this be a corollary to the old
saying that breakfast is the most important meal of the day; prayer is the most
important business of the morning? Perhaps morning itself is not the most
important part of the verse, but the idea that the first thing we want to give
our attention to each day is the Lord is a good thought.
There
is a former Navy SEAL who has become an author and podcaster named Jocko
Willink. Every morning he posts a picture of his watch at 4:30 a.m., usually
with the admonishment, “Get after it!” The idea is that by getting up and
getting right to the orders of the day a person can take control of the day by
getting their mind and body focused. There is a certain truth in Willink’s
philosophy.
When
we set the first matter of our day as time with the LORD, that focus often
follows with us into the day. Now, please do not hear what I am not saying. I
am not suggesting that this is some kind of law or principle that must be
followed in order to have one’s best life. Focusing on the LORD is not
something we do to “Get after it,” and achieve all that we can achieve in a day,
it is something we do in response to all that we have received from God. It is
living in relationship with God, recognizing his protection through the night,
knowing he will be with us in the struggles of the day, and receiving his grace
to lead us into our day. When our day begins in grace, hearing the Word and
prayer set a tone for the day and guide how we relate to our neighbors.
The English
Standard Version translation of v. 3 says, “in the morning I prepare a
sacrifice for you and watch.” Other translations put it, “in the morning I
direct my prayer to you and watch.” A very literal translation of this text
could say, “in the morning I set in order to you and watch.” We don’t do a lot
of sacrifices anymore – not since Jesus has offered the last and greatest
sacrifice to atone for our sins. But the idea that we would order our day,
orient our lives to God is helpful. In Romans 12 it says that we present our
bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God as our spiritual worship.
Perhaps
one of the most valuable parts of taking a moment like this is the way that God
uses this exercise – this discipline – to orient your heart and mind back to
himself helping you take note of him as your King and God who graciously
defends and blesses you. It becomes a spiritual sacrifice to transform your
mind in the image and priorities of Jesus so that when you get after it, you
get after things of God’s kingdom, and not merely things of this world.
Question for Meditation
What does this reading teach you
about Jesus, what He said and did, or what He wants His followers to believe?
What does it teach you about God’s love and forgiveness?
What does this reading lead you
to be thankful for?
What behavior, thought, or
attitude does this reading challenge? What sin does it lead you to confess?
How might you pray for God to
have a richer impact on your life through this reading?
Petitions of the Lord’s Prayer
“Thy will be done on earth as it
is in heaven.”
O God, Your will is done even
without our prayers, but we pray that it may be done among us also. Please
break and hinder every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and our
sinful nature, which do not want us to hallow Your name or let You kingdom
come. Strengthen and keep us firm in Your Word and faith until we die. Let Your
good and gracious will be done. Amen.
Prayer
Pray
for the government and all who are in authority.
Pray
that God grants wisdom, integrity, courage, and safety to all our leaders, to
police, firefighters, health care professionals, and all who work for the
public good.
Benediction
Now may the God of peace himself
sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept
blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thess. 5:23 ESV)
[1] English
Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard
Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good
News Publishers.
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